dealer dissapointment rant

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

laro

laro

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
May 12, 2009
Threads
8
Messages
54
Location
Surrey, BC
So far i have been fortunate with my truck when it comes to problems. Mostly small mechanical issues which i could fix myself. Last week i run into a gremlin in my ignition system and/or fuel system which i could not figure out because of lack of the proper tools.
So i thought lets go to the good old dealer and let their "specialists" fix it or at least diagnose the problem. They should have the knowledge and proper shop manuals to help out, you would think.
Well, they told me on a very nice way that they were not at any way interested in my collectors item and to take that piece of old :censor: away from their shiny lot.
After your toyota passes the 20 year mark, they don't want to service it anymore, it seems. Toyota is for us 70, 60 and older truck guy's nothing more then a shiny expensive parts store, with pretty girls behind the reception and young guy's in the shop who can only replace parts after the diagnostic computer tells them what to replace.
Instead i went to a small shop owned by real grease monkey's.
They could tell me already what would be wrong, just after listening to me explain the symptoms.
The toyota service desk was more concerned about how to register my import truck into their computer system than to listen to me explaining the problem symptoms.
I should have know better with the big corporations who only care about quick easy money.
End of rant,:cheers:
Ronald
 
Yes, I once went to a Toyota Stealership out in Richmond. They took me for over $800 that did not fix the problem. Went back to complain and they said another part needed to be replaced for another $600 but that the first one they replaced was defective. They also mentioned i might need a brand new carb for another $1500. Neighbour who worked at BC Packers told me about the small shop everyone there took there cars to. $120 later for chemicals and labour, the Corolla was running just fine. I am sure that the part Toyota replaced was not defective. ...but it is hard to prove when they took it and said they tossed it out.

Rant on...
 
I tried taking my 88 FJ62 to the Richmond dealership last summer for a engine light check the manager did not know what to do after 15 minutes he called up a few of his mechanics that had been there longer than 15 years to see if they knew anything about my Landcruiser. It turned out they had one mechanic that had worked on them in the past and was sure he could do the job needless to say I declined their service.
Last month my son went in there with a pocket full of cash (he lives and works in Fort Mac $$$ 21 years old and he owns his own house damn) to buy a Taco the sales guy would not give him the time of day my son was peeved with the response from them he ended going out to Surrey dealership and dumped a wad on a shiny Taco.
John who was the guy from Packers I worked there for 15 years and what garage was it...there is only one left in the area the guy is a good old school wrench and very reasonable on price.
 
Last edited:
If anyone MUST go to a dealer then I would highly suggest Jim Pattison Toyota in the North Shore automall, I know a mechanic that works there that is THE Landcruiser guy.
He drives one, he is the only mechanic there that works on them, he enjoys working on them, he lived in Australia for a couple years and worked at Toyota there, rebuilt a 40 for himself while he lived there.
If you need more details PM me.
 
that's a bummer about the dealership's attitude

I like the dealerships though, they send us lots of work and new clients
 
One friend of mine (who swears by Dodge products) dresses in crappy clothing when ever he goes to buy a new vehicle (all Dodges) he figures it gets rid of the sales guys with big attitudes and you get the guys that will work for you in getting a better deal.



Dieseler said:
Last month my son went in there with a pocket full of cash (he lives and works in Fort Mac $$$ 21 years old and he owns his own house damn) to buy a Taco the sales guy would not give him the time of day my son was peeved with the response from them he ended going out to Surrey dealership and dumped a wad on a shiny Taco.
John who was the guy from Packers I worked there for 15 years and what garage was it...there is only one left in the area the guy is a good old school wrench and very reasonable on price.
Click to expand...
 
You're nuts to even consider a dealership dude. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way, I have.

Take it to one of the known specialists from this board.

If anyone MUST go to a dealer then I would highly suggest Jim Pattison Toyota in the North Shore automall, I know a mechanic that works there that is THE Landcruiser guy.
Click to expand...

NO! don't go there. This is where I learned not to go to any dealer. $600 bill and I still failed aircare - total waste of time and money.
 
laro said:
So far i have been fortunate with my truck when it comes to problems. Mostly small mechanical issues which i could fix myself. Last week i run into a gremlin in my ignition system and/or fuel system which i could not figure out because of lack of the proper tools.
So i thought lets go to the good old dealer and let their "specialists" fix it or at least diagnose the problem. They should have the knowledge and proper shop manuals to help out, you would think.
Well, they told me on a very nice way that they were not at any way interested in my collectors item and to take that piece of old :censor: away from their shiny lot.
After your toyota passes the 20 year mark, they don't want to service it anymore, it seems. Toyota is for us 70, 60 and older truck guy's nothing more then a shiny expensive parts store, with pretty girls behind the reception and young guy's in the shop who can only replace parts after the diagnostic computer tells them what to replace.
Instead i went to a small shop owned by real grease monkey's.
They could tell me already what would be wrong, just after listening to me explain the symptoms.
The toyota service desk was more concerned about how to register my import truck into their computer system than to listen to me explaining the problem symptoms.
I should have know better with the big corporations who only care about quick easy money.
End of rant,:cheers:
Ronald
Click to expand...


I think you are being a little hard on them.

If you took in the 70 in your sig, then it is a model that was never sold in NA, no mechanics would have been trained on it and they wouldn't have easy access to manuals.

I think they did the right thing by turning you away. There are better trained guys in your area for working on these older, non-NA cruisers.
 
About 16 years ago before I did my own work on my vehicles, I needed a clutch in my mint 1987 AE86 GTS Corolla. I thought "I'll bring it into Metro Toyota (Victoria), they'll do it right". $950 bill later, I drive it for about two days and my transmission begins to shift funny and is getting hot. I bring it back to Toyota. They tell me I need a new transmission.

I get smart and bring it to another mechanic who tells me Toyota never put any oil back in the transmission after the clutch job, but added oil when I brought it back. Told me the transmission was absolutely baked. Toyota never took responsibility for this. I paid the other mechanic for a new transmission. This is the last time I ever brought a car to a stealership for servicing. Also the last time I paid anyone to work on one of my vehicles.

Previous to this experience at Toyota, I also bought a used car from Saunders Subaru dealership in Victoria. It was THE worst lemon I've ever bought. Again, at the time I was young and inexperienced. Needed a car in a rush, and the @ssholes there took advantage of that. This is last time I'll ever buy a used car from a stealership. Also the last time I'll ever buy a f*ing Subaru.

Live and learn I guess...
 
45Kevin said:
I think you are being a little hard on them.

If you took in the 70 in your sig, then it is a model that was never sold in NA, no mechanics would have been trained on it and they wouldn't have easy access to manuals.

I think they did the right thing by turning you away. There are better trained guys in your area for working on these older, non-NA cruisers.
Click to expand...

His 70 in his sig has one of the most common Toyota gas engines ever made and sold in Canada and around the world. ;)
 
Dieseler said:
John who was the guy from Packers I worked there for 15 years and what garage was it...there is only one left in the area the guy is a good old school wrench and very reasonable on price.
Click to expand...


I think the shop was off of Horseshoe Way. I can't remember the name of the shop. The owner was an older guy. Also, can't remember the name of the neighbour who sent me there. He and his wife were of Chinese heritage and his wife was a VPD cop. The mechanic also worked on the old Mercury Villager for me. Neither of them ever failed AirCare again. Biggest bill was $300 for an axle CV replacement. He also could always find good used parts. He knew money was tight with a young family and only me working.

I should take the Camry to him to change the spark plugs. Engineers who put one side of the engine that close to the fire wall should face their own firing wall. :mad:
 
Is the Camry the original motor or is it a motor swap build :grinpimp:? I belong to the dealer no transmission oil club too, mine got remedied with a brand new transmission ( actually was even given a choice of different gear ratios ), but it wasn't a pleasant experience to get closure.
 
Camry is OEM untouched 2001 gas hog. :o Despite warnings about it being a dirty motor, it sure does keep the oil clean. I mainly put on hwy kms on it. My mom didn't put hardly any kms on it. It will soon be due for a tranny oil change and also will need the timing belt etc done in the spring.
 
Boo f'n hoo. Better get those POS Daturds back on the road before they rust away to nothing! Dealers suck, you know this, what did you expect? I have a brand new car bought a yr. ago. Service dept. at the dealer I bought from couldnt find their collective asses in the dark with both hands.
 
GTSSportCoupe said:
About 16 years ago before I did my own work on my vehicles, I needed a clutch in my mint 1987 AE86 GTS Corolla. I thought "I'll bring it into Metro Toyota (Victoria), they'll do it right". $950 bill later, I drive it for about two days and my transmission begins to shift funny and is getting hot. I bring it back to Toyota. They tell me I need a new transmission.

I get smart and bring it to another mechanic who tells me Toyota never put any oil back in the transmission after the clutch job, but added oil when I brought it back. Told me the transmission was absolutely baked. Toyota never took responsibility for this. I paid the other mechanic for a new transmission. This is the last time I ever brought a car to a stealership for servicing. Also the last time I paid anyone to work on one of my vehicles.

Previous to this experience at Toyota, I also bought a used car from Saunders Subaru dealership in Victoria. It was THE worst lemon I've ever bought. Again, at the time I was young and inexperienced. Needed a car in a rush, and the @ssholes there took advantage of that. This is last time I'll ever buy a used car from a stealership. Also the last time I'll ever buy a f*ing Subaru.

Live and learn I guess...
Click to expand...

Why did they drain the transmission to do a routine clutch job?
 
Well my experience with dealerships is non existent because I learned to work on my own cars even before I had a drivers license. My mother's car was pulling to one side pretty bad and when she finally had some extra cash she took it into a small shop beside a gas station. He ended up replacing a couple hundred dollars worth of parts, including the lower ball joint on the control arm. Next day, she was driving, over some bumps and the wheel collapsed, turned out the nut backed off the ball joint.
Eventually the dick fixed it at no charge but she was still out for the tow truck.
Next week I went to Crappy Tire, bought a Hanes manual and a socket set and started harassing anyone I knew to teach me stuff. With the exception of Vancouver Brake and Wheel in Port Moody ( I know the owner, Don) any time I have trusted any shop for even the smallest detail, they managed to either screw it up or somehow fond a way of charging me way more. These days I don't care if I need to buy a $1000 tool to do the job myself, I'll do that instead.
The pickup I bought was a prime example of a hack job by a mechanic.
-wouldn't recommend going to the shop on the corner of Scott and 96, Zappone's Garage, if the truck is any indication of the quality of work he does.
When I bought it the flat deck looked new, but he (the owner of the shop) swore the previous owner put it on, and he's had the truck for over a year and hasn't done any work to it. Which was a load of crap as I discovered right after buying it. The flat deck was just put in, the filler neck was too low so any time you wanted to fill it it was a nightmare as most of the gas was trying to spill out. After driving it for a week the aluminum just started to oxidize a bit. Then there were the electrical gremlins and as icing on the cake the blown head and all the carb issues because it was modified to make it run good enough to pass.
As soon as I put the timing and carb back to stock it ran like a bag of s***.
The frame is from a different truck, the cab form a different one, and the engine was another swap from somewhere else. The only it had going for itself was that it's rust free. Of course the ass denies any thing and everything.
These days I trust no one to work on my vehicles.
 
It's about 'honesty', more correctly the lack of it in the auto repair and used car industry. There is a severe shortage of 'qualified' tradesman and due to the lack of regulations that anyone can call themselves a 'mechanic' that allows companies to cheat and BS people for immediate gain about things they know little about. The other problem is the person at the counter does not do the work so has little idea what when on during the 'repair'.
That is why when we deal with companies that demonstrate honesty and integrity we should tell others of our experience so we can avoid the others.
 
Fantom said:
Well my experience with dealerships is non existent because I learned to work on my own cars even before I had a drivers license. My mother's car was pulling to one side pretty bad and when she finally had some extra cash she took it into a small shop beside a gas station. He ended up replacing a couple hundred dollars worth of parts, including the lower ball joint on the control arm. Next day, she was driving, over some bumps and the wheel collapsed, turned out the nut backed off the ball joint.
Eventually the dick fixed it at no charge but she was still out for the tow truck.
Next week I went to Crappy Tire, bought a Hanes manual and a socket set and started harassing anyone I knew to teach me stuff. With the exception of Vancouver Brake and Wheel in Port Moody ( I know the owner, Don) any time I have trusted any shop for even the smallest detail, they managed to either screw it up or somehow fond a way of charging me way more. These days I don't care if I need to buy a $1000 tool to do the job myself, I'll do that instead.
The pickup I bought was a prime example of a hack job by a mechanic.
-wouldn't recommend going to the shop on the corner of Scott and 96, Zappone's Garage, if the truck is any indication of the quality of work he does.
When I bought it the flat deck looked new, but he (the owner of the shop) swore the previous owner put it on, and he's had the truck for over a year and hasn't done any work to it. Which was a load of crap as I discovered right after buying it. The flat deck was just put in, the filler neck was too low so any time you wanted to fill it it was a nightmare as most of the gas was trying to spill out. After driving it for a week the aluminum just started to oxidize a bit. Then there were the electrical gremlins and as icing on the cake the blown head and all the carb issues because it was modified to make it run good enough to pass.
As soon as I put the timing and carb back to stock it ran like a bag of s***.
The frame is from a different truck, the cab form a different one, and the engine was another swap from somewhere else. The only it had going for itself was that it's rust free. Of course the ass denies any thing and everything.
These days I trust no one to work on my vehicles.
Click to expand...


good for you Mat. i always say that you are very special.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

IH8MUD Forum | Toyota, Lexus & Off-Road Community
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.

© 2000-2026 Tie Rod Media LLC

Back
Top Bottom